Quotes About Self-expression

I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I've been going by Yasiin since '99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I'm declaring it openly.

I want to be happy. We all want to be happy. I want to be treated like a normal human being, but I also want to be on stage in a fancy dress, so I'm trying to find a happy medium.

I don't actually think I'm treated unfairly or anything. If anything, I sometimes can't understand why I don't see myself and the people I know represented more in films. Unless I'm going to go out and write them myself, I don't feel like I can really complain about it.

I been me from day one, I'm not 'bout to start acting different, talking different, treating people different, or looking different.

I try to have fun; I try to inject myself into my work and have a good time along the way and not lose sight of who I am, and who my friends are, and all of these things that treating it like a business might hinder. I try to keep that hobby mentality.

I've never asked for special treatment along the way. And I'm never going to hide the fact that I'm a girl, ever. That's obvious, isn't it?

I have no shame around the fact that I can be shot into suicidal feelings by certain people's treatment of me. I am no different to any other person, I therefore act as I believe any other person should be free to.

Being gay is not a terrible, tragic disease that requires prevention or treatment chosen for you by your parents.

I just want to be myself. I want to act in films and not expect any special treatment. I carry my own bags on sets, I don't have assistants around me.

I think that I do feel that my nature is to express what this self, this particular self at this time, experiences in the world. And that is so organic - I use this metaphor a lot but I'll use it again - it's like a pine tree producing pine cones, or a blackberry bush producing blackberries - it's just what happens with this being, now.

I have this exercise that I propose to everybody: Hug a tree and complain for a minimum 15 minutes. Be yourself, and do something that you really feel deeply.

I don't want to be the one dancing behind the trees and getting my stomach pinched.

I will not accept a role just because a big hero stars in it. I am not here to merely dance, run around trees, and be a glam doll.

Bubbly roles and running around trees don't satiate an actor's quest for the best.

I think many actresses want to be famous and want to be the prettiest, and that wasn't my trek. I was thinking, 'I gotta get out of here... how do I get out of here?' I like acting, but I like directing more.

We have made tremendous progress. But there are still too many kids in our country who grow up feeling like they have to hold on to this secret about who they are because, if anyone finds out it, could cost them everything.

When I was at Brown, I wanted to write the great American novel, but I was too scared to take a creative course. I signed up for one, got in, and just didn't have the courage to go. I was a tremendously shy person, almost pathologically shy. The thought of peers critiquing my work - oh, God.

I had noticed men were much more confident in their clothes. So I sought through trouser suits, trench coats, tuxedos, and pea coats to give women the same confidence.

I was the funny-looking one who wore a trench coat and played hacky sack with the other greasy kids.

Don't follow a trend. Follow your heart.

Never let a trend get in the way of creating a great outfit for yourself.

The general trend in television is to be more transparent, and that is especially true for women: to not pretend that we wake up with our hair in perfect shellacked bobs.

I believe someone should be able to dress according to the mood they're in. It shouldn't be forced and you shouldn't have to follow a trend.

Style is all about being comfortable. I don't believe in following a style because it is a trend. I need to be comfortable in my clothes.